Texas Police Are Warning Speeders With Cardboard Cutouts

This is catching on everywhere, and we think we'll be seeing more of it in 2019. Fake police officers like "Constable Scarecrow," that are cardboard cutouts made to look like real officers with radar guns. Will it work in East Texas?

We've seen this happen in Canada and other places over the past couple of years, and now it's in Texas too.

The Williamson County Sheriff's office near Austin is putting cardboard cutouts of deputies next to roads that typically have the most speeders to encourage them to slow down. They're using images of the department's real-life deputies, prop them up on the side of the road, and set them up to point radar devices at cars passing by.

Does it work? Sometimes. Of course, the concern for deputies is that the effectiveness will fade over time, once drivers get savvy to the fact that it's an inanimate police officer pointing the speed-measuring device at them instead of the real thing. As a driver, it can even be sort of embarrassing to hit the brakes and then realize you were tricked by an impostor. If you ever let the lead foot get the best of you, that is. I know most of us have nothing to worry about.

We'll watch for the cardboard cutout officers in East Texas and see if this catches on in 2019. If you see one, let us know! It's all in the name of safety, and that's not a bad thing.